Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 31st May 2015

Dear Friends, we enjoyed a lively discussion at breakfast last Sunday and Bilbo got lots of attention as he was wearing his knitted coat. Although he doesn’t look all that fussed, he really was quite delighted to be stylishly warm! In the afternoon, Wes drove to Ballarat to meet with Bill Shorten who was spending a little time there. Bill knew who he was, but was unable to satisfactorily answer his question, the first asked, about the ALP’s refugee policy. I stayed at home doing some gardening – mostly rescuing the chilli plants from the frosts, then watched a couple of very exciting games of footy. Well done to the Demons and Tigers for very good wins.

Wes made us very yummy colourful pizzas that night.

  

Monday dawned cool and frosty so Wes and Bilbo decided to have a little sleep-in. I went off to gym, Wes went to see his doctor and I came back home to a massage with Nick Massaro. It turned into a beautiful day, so Wes spent quite a few hours in the garden and I took Bilbo for a walk into town to get refills at Daylesford Aromatherapy, where I buy all our shampoos, conditioners, rosewater, laundry powder, dishwashing liquid and essential oils. We came home to a beautiful risotto lunch and as it was still a glorious day, warm enough for short sleeves, I took Bilbo out again for another long walk. This time we went up the back of our place, through the gardens and the old railway line, before coming back home via Cornish Hill.

The next day was cold again early, but Wes and Bilbo braved the frost and ice and enjoyed a good walk until the torch gave out halfway around Lake Daylesford. The TV Show, ‘Sunrise’ was broadcasting from the Lake House that morning and Wes saw it all being set up. The film being shown that morning was ‘Boychoir’ with Dustin Hoffman. I was so pleased I went as I enjoyed it very much and was blown away by the music. It was a little schmalzy in parts, but not enough to ruin the experience. This was the last film being advertised as suitable for ‘Mums & Bubs’ and guess what, after months of none of them, there was a mother nursing her very young and extremely well-behaved baby in the front row.

Afterwards Wes had lunch at ‘The Food Gallery’ with John Bohn, to talk about the swimming group that used to exist in Daylesford. I had a quick bite of leftover pasta at home and walked Bilbo to ‘The Cutting Studio’ for a haircut and chat with Lyndal. My latest hairdresser is an admirable young woman – she lost her mother to breast cancer when she was 18 and this year she decided to do the Mothers’ Day run in Geelong, where she raised $2,000 towards breast cancer research. Her father is a trotting trainer and they spend lots of time together with the horses. Lyndal is the granddaughter of Pat Conroy, who I met about 15 years ago when I first joined the Bushwalking Group.

Later that afternoon Jenny & Eddie Beacham came over to hear about Wes’s meeting with Bill Shorten, so we put a couple of bottles of Best’s Sparkling Shiraz on ice, lit the fire, found a yummy assortment of cheeses and accompaniments and spent a most enjoyable hour and a half with them both. I may have mentioned before that they have both been prominent in the ALP and our paths have crossed for over 40 years. We never imagined back in the 70s & 80s that we would enjoy each other’s company the way we do here in retirement.

Wayne brought back our dishwasher on Wednesday morning and it promptly shorted the house out. He discovered the lead from the appliance to the power point was faulty, which hadn’t shown up in the factory, and once again we got error messages and the dishwasher was full of water. So Wayne has taken it back for one last attempt to get it working properly. We have had all our power points checked and are 100% certain the issue lies in the dishwasher, but it is out of warranty and we have to try every avenue before consigning it to the scrap heap.

After gym, I played Mah Jong with Dot & Valerie and we enjoyed a fun morning as usual. Wes spent time in the garden both here and over at Barbara’s place. In the afternoon, he drove to Newlyn to interview Faye Hungerford, partner with her husband John, in ‘Newlyn Antiques’. He spent a long time there and is probably only halfway through. Faye has led an interesting life and spent much of it on the amateur stage.

Frozen water in the fountain

I had offered to drive Judi to the airport on Thursday morning as she was off to Caloundra to visit her mother, Mavis, for about 10 days. We had a good trip and I deposited her at the Departures entrance in plenty of time, then headed off to Strathmore to spend time with Leanne. We had decided to sort out what was left in the garage as there is a hard rubbish collection coming up. Apart from that work, we sat around chatting, admiring Smokey and enjoying salad sandwiches for lunch. I had an easy trip back home where things had been very quiet except for Wes accompanying Barbara to have her stitches out at our local medical centre.

Friday was cold early, but it had fined up by the time Bilbo & I set off for the Bushwalking Group just before 9am. Malcolm, George & I did a good walk along Doctors Gully from Ingrow Lane to Fifth Street and back again. We stopped at Malcolm & Ruth’s place for morning tea, which was very civilised indeed. Our route took us past some mineshafts as well as remnants of sluicing areas, which interested Malcolm & George enormously. Bilbo was much more interested in the young wallabies and older kangaroos we spotted along the way.

Yesterday was a cold morning followed by dense fog, which was relieved by incessant birdsong – we weren’t sure what the birds were singing about, but it was beautiful to hear. Perhaps it was a message to let me know that stocks of birdseed were low in Fawlty Towers. We had received a most unexpected letter during the week from Andrew Reynolds, an old friend with whom we had lost touch over the past 15 years or so. He and his partner, Sue, were spending the weekend in Hepburn and he wondered if we could catch up. We were most excited and invited him to come around for a drink mid-afternoon. We lit the fire, set out the wine and cheese and waited impatiently until he arrived at the door. It was so good to see him again and we tried very hard to catch up on all that has happened since our lives were intertwined all those years ago. Later on, he and Wes picked up Sue, who had been walking around Hepburn and brought her back so we could meet her. She is a lovely, interesting woman who has recently walked the Comino and is heading off to Italy to walk around the active volcano on Stromboli.  We managed to get them a booking at ‘Mercato’ for dinner and hope they had a lovely night there.

Today Bilbo and I are off to pump mineral water before going to the Sunday Market. Then there will be a small group of us at breakfast. I have decided not to go to the footy this afternoon, as it will be dark by the time I am driving home and I don’t want to have to drive through the sort of dense fog we have been experiencing lately.

Salvia in the front garden – doesn’t seem to mind the frost

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 24th May, 2015

 

Dear Friends, we had a most enjoyable trip to Melbourne on Sunday afternoon for the Richmond vs Collingwood game. We weren’t able to catch up with Paun, Brian, Liam, Warwick & Rohan, except by FB, where we also discovered that Matt & Genevieve Spiteri were there, as well as Daylesford friend, Lyndall Jenkin, her partner AJ & their daughter, Brontë, now suddenly decked out in yellow & black. The atmosphere was magic, there were nearly 60,000 supporters in attendance, and it was a perfect Autumnal Melbourne day. Although the Pies were beaten, the game was always in doubt, and the final margin of 5 points reflected the closeness of the two teams, with 10 lead changes during the match. Wes drove there and back which was very kind of him, and we arrived home to a hungry Bilbo looking for a feed, even though he had been spoilt rotten at the Sunday Market, at Breakfast, and at home when we left.

Matt & Genna above & the Fells & friends shown after the match – free entry for kids & kick-to-kick after the game are real winners, plus Richmond’s match day experience was slanted very squarely at all the kids and they loved it.

Monday was another lovely day so Wes washed Bilbo after their early walk and I started the first of seven loads of washing. There are only 2 of us plus Bilbo, but it is amazing how dirty we seem to get – it took 13 hours to get the 7 loads washed & dried and everything replaced where it should be. The ironing had to wait for Tuesday afternoon.

Wes made a beetroot frittata, which tasted better than it looked, but wasn’t the most memorable of dishes. He was very disappointed and still quite hungry after we had demolished it!

Most of Tuesday was spent shrouded in fog (see photo), which was rather wonderful. Wes went off to show the silly film ‘The Age of Adeline’ at the Daylesford Community Cinema, and absolutely no one turned up to see it. The weather may have affected the attendance – the two other volunteers watched it and one wants back the 90 minutes or so she spent in the cinema, the other loved it. Meanwhile I made a yummy tomato pasta sauce for lunch using the last kg of our tomatoes before having my nails done by Alanna at EKO.

We woke to drizzling rain, but sprang into action to get the house ready to be cleaned by Sandra, who arrives at 7.30am. Bilbo missed out on a walk, but wasn’t really interested. I went to gym before spending our usual fun morning with Dot and Valerie playing Mah Jong at a very busy ‘Muffins & More’. While Wes spent time with Barbara, and later drove to Newlyn to interview Faye Hungerford, I went to Springs Medical Centre to catch up with friends and see Greg Stewart for the results of my ultrasound. All was well on both fronts and when that was done; I was very pleased to go to ‘Gracenotes Café’ for a long, slow, very overdue catch up over lunch with Gail White. We sat in front of the open fire, enjoyed a very yummy meal, and talked books.

That night I made special fried rice, which we ate sitting in front of our own open fire, which is always a treat. The eggs came from Gillie’s new chooks – Whitey & Blackie, which seemed very appropriate. Wes has started playing Scrabble via Facebook and is finding it a great relaxation after hours spent on the computer doing Ancestry or preparing for his Family History classes or Hepburn Hub meetings.

Bilbo enjoying his new pink bed cover

We had planned to discuss finances on Thursday morning while Fells Electrical Service came and replaced all our old down lights in the kitchen and lounge areas. Colin, from Fells, did a wonderful job and cleaned up after himself. He even cleaned our ceiling fan, which is too high for us to reach and installed dimmer switches as the light is so very bright now. Wes and I were going along fine until suddenly we lost our internet connection and after fiddling around with turning everything on and off a few times, ended up reinstalling the modem and then my printer before we were back to where we started. And then it was lunchtime – where did that morning go to I wonder?

That night was a Volunteers Meeting of the Daylesford Cinema and Wes went along with his usual raft of suggestions, some of which were accepted and others of which were not considered. There are a very few people doing quite a lot and, as happens with busy people, the busier they get, the harder they find it to delegate. Fortunately, many of the volunteers are keen to take on extra tasks, so perhaps if they persevere the job load will be spread more evenly.

On Friday, Wes finally got back out into the garden again. It was quite cold but dry and he was able to do a few jobs that had been building up, including putting out rat poison under the house to see if we can get rid of the ones that have found their way inside our walls. Later that morning he took Barbara to Springs Medical Centre for a procedure. Meanwhile Bilbo and I drove Malcolm & Judi to Trentham where we did an exciting new walk there – it was about 9 kms and combined streets and forest, including a circuit of the old Trentham Racecourse, which existed from 1890 for 27 years.

I had gotten up early and made a big pot of minestrone soup before I left; as Wes wasn’t sure when he would get home and I thought it would make an easy lunch, which it did. I also did the Coles shopping and got a load of washing done before we went walking. Bilbo loved the walk, as did the three of us with him, and he spent the rest of the day in a very deep sleep. I lit a fire in the afternoon, spent an hour or so ironing and then reading before the footy that night.

Sadly Carlton played terribly again and lost by far too much. We lasted until half time before going to bed and missing out on the worst of the carnage.

Yesterday was cold early but turned into a beautiful day so I walked Bilbo to the Wombat Botanic Gardens where we had a cuppa and catch-up with Rhonda. Wes took his final Ancestry class at the Neighbourhood Centre and Barbara joined him to show his class the book she wrote about her father and gave to him before he died. It has been an interesting experience for Wes – he has enjoyed sharing his knowledge and passion for Family History, but has found it very frustrating that not everyone has the same application and thirst for information. I am sure that those who completed his course will have been inspired and will complete their projects on at least one person in their families.

In the afternoon we watched Collingwood celebrate Scott Pendlebury’s 200^th game in style with a good win over a depleted Gold Coast side. Wes made a very yummy and colourful pasta dish with lots of homegrown ingredients such as dill, chillies, basil mint & flat leaf parsley. That night we settled down to watch the eagerly awaited Grand Final rematch between Hawthorn & Sydney at the MCG. Originally Jane & David Knox were coming down to see this game and then spending some time with us here in Daylesford, but Emily’s wedding plans changed all that and they are off to London & Bute in July instead.

It was a very exciting game and the Swans managed to turn the tables on the Hawks at the very end of the game and come away with a 4-point win. We were barracking for the Swans – I fell out of love with Hawthorn supporters back in 1990 when Collingwood finally won a premiership after 32 years – we were living and working at 246 Brunswick Road, Brunswick and had decorated the office in black & white for the fortnight before the Grand Final. On the Monday after we won, one of our clients, who was also doing some cabinet-work for us, sneered at all the balloons, streamers & pansies and said ‘you didn’t beat Hawthorn this year’. This was true, but most ungenerous, and not something I would or have ever said to any opposition supporter. Over the years Jeff Kennett’s foot-in-mouth support of the Hawks has added to our reluctance to cheer for them, with the exception of 2007 when they were very brave in unexpectedly winning that Grand Final.

Joan Testro with Warren at our 4^th Murder Weekend, Woodend, 1989 – we are missing her being part of our lives

Today it is quite frosty early, which means it should be another beautiful day. Wes and Bilbo have walked, although Wes assures me that Bilbo was very keen to get back home and off the cold, wet track around the Lake. Shortly we will head to the Sunday Market, then off to Breakfast and a quiet day for me for the rest of it. Wes is heading to Ballarat this afternoon to meet with Bill Shorten, who is visiting today.

1987 – my brother Peter and me in his salubrious wheels in the Seychelles – what a wonderful spot on earth that is!

Daylesford Autumn Dispatch - Sunday, 17th May, 2015

Dear Friends, this week started with a most enjoyable breakfast upstairs at ‘The Food Gallery’. Glenn Mack joined us unexpectedly and he seemed to provoke some thoughtful discussions about shellshock, footballers & cherry pickers. We were all sorry to leave, but Wes and I had to get on the road to Melbourne and Bilbo was feeling the cold sitting outside on his own. He especially missed Margot who usually spoils him to death.

My first Communion photo at St Monica’s Church, Moonee Ponds in 1958

We drove through pouring rain until after Woodend, when the weather seemed to improve markedly. Our visit to Leanne was very good – she had made a fresh batch of her yummy biscuits, which we ate as we chatted about the funniest Mothers’ Day lunch we could remember. This was a few years ago at ‘Ocean Blue’ a Greek restaurant at Port Melbourne. Leanne had booked a table with a view, which turned out to be of the stairwell. All the men were doing the cooking and waiting and it was a complete hoot from go to whoa. Our glasses were frequently moved out of our reach so that more food could be put down; ‘are youse finished picking at that’ was the most common request from our waiter; Viva’s longing for oysters couldn’t be met; and at the end of lunch, the staff formed a guard of honour for us to walk out and presented Viva, Leanne, & I with a wilted red rose each. We laughed until we cried for quite a few weeks after that. Viva declared it her best Mothers’ Day lunch ever!

In the backyard at Morrow Street, West Brunswick, taken with my very first camera – me with Leanne, 1962

We arrived home in time for Wes to fill Barbara’s car with petrol, as she wanted to drive to Melbourne to see friends on Monday. He cleaned the fireplace and settled down with a whisky to watch Carlton play the Brisbane Lions. Like all Carlton supporters, he was disgusted with the lack of effort shown by some of the Blues’ players and especially at the end of the game, when very few of them seemed to be hurt by the loss.

We woke on Monday to lots more rain, which eventually blew away and ushered in some very welcome blue skies. Everyone’s tanks are full to overflowing, so it was good to have the clear skies. On my way to gym, I noticed a car had left the road at the intersection of Vincent & Raglan Streets and ploughed into a seat and then a tree before coming to a halt. This accident happened about 50 metres from the police station, which was convenient and there didn’t appear to be any injuries. On Saturday, I had seen the fire crews putting out a fire in a car in Bleakley Street, near Lake Daylesford, and hopefully no-one was injured there either.

Me wearing one of my first hand-made dresses, standing in the front garden of Morrow Street, West Brunswick, 1967

We both spent much of the day in front of our computers, as it was too wet for outdoor activities. Attendance at gym was lower than usual, but we all soon warmed up and enjoyed our session. Wes made a yummy vegetable risotto for lunch and I caught up with back episodes of ‘Downton Abbey’ while doing the ironing. That night was an ALP meeting, for which Wes had worked hard.

Tuesday was another grey day – I emptied 50mls from the rain gauge and dressed to walk Bilbo but was forced to postpone that pleasure until just before 9am when it fined up. We walked around the back of our place (Argus Hill) over to Cornish Hill (both sites of gold mines), along Orford Street to the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens. We made our way home along Raglan Street, down Vincent Street and finally along King Street, by which time the rain had revisited and we got a little wet. Bilbo found an apple on the walk, so he was content.

Visiting Wes at work at Federated Mercantile International, Queen Street, Melbourne in 1972

My dictionary suggested the Word of the Day was ‘bibliomania’, which is an excessive fondness for acquiring and possessing books – something that Viva and I shared and I suspect Gillie does as well. It isn’t enough to read them, you have to own them, so you can pick them up and dip into them again when you feel like it. I have just read ‘Noah’s Compass’, possibly the best Anne Tyler book ever... even better than ‘The Accidental Tourist’, which has always been my favourite. Anne has a unique ability to see inside us and understand the motivations and feelings of all of her brilliantly delineated characters.

Judi & I met for lunch at ‘The Food Gallery’, and both enjoyed Toni’s very yummy fish chowder, as well as catching up on each other’s news. Wes had hoped to join us after he had shown the morning’s film, ‘Big Eyes’, but arrived just as we were finishing up. Last Friday I had been to see my GP, Greg Stewart, to make sure that my current batch of lumps, bumps & spots were all OK, and although he thought they were, we decided that it was better to be absolutely sure with one particular lump, so I drove to St John of God Hospital for an ultrasound. The radiologist very kindly indicated that there was nothing to worry about after she had finished looking, which was very welcome news indeed.

We were expecting snow on Wednesday, but sadly, it never arrived, although it did fall at Leonard’s Hill, about 10 minutes away from Daylesford. It was bitterly cold early when Wes walked Bilbo, and when I went to gym, but by the time I got back home the temperature was 6° and positively balmy. I emptied 50mls of rain out of the gauge, changed clothes and went to ‘Muffins & More’, where Dot, Valerie and I had a fun morning chatting & playing Mah Jong. The café was very busy with a constant stream of patrons looking for hot drinks and hot food.

We had hoped that Wayne from Barclays in Ballarat would have returned our dishwasher and Wes cancelled most of his activities, except spending time with Barbara, because he was just across the road, to make sure he was here if Wayne should arrive. No Wayne of course and so I continue to wash up dishes. One of the downsides to the loss of our dishwasher is the dripping tap under the sink, which we didn’t discover for 24 hours, by which time the downstairs guest room ceiling had taken quite a lot of water. That is slowly drying out, and we hope that Nick Massaro will be able to give it a coat of paint when he paints the two spots where plaster has been repaired in our bedroom & the kitchen.

Proud co-owner of Maloney Manor, 246 Brunswick Road, Brunswick in 1977

We ended up lighting a fire mid-afternoon and Bilbo and I relaxed in front of it, me reading and him zedding. When Wes joined us, we watched the latest episode of ‘Wolf Hall’ before the ABC news & then AFL 360°, which I really enjoy.

Thursday morning had been earmarked for a serious discussion of new wills. We last made our wills in 2003 and quite a lot has changed since then, so we spent a good hour discussing them before Wes put them into some sort of order to send to Peter Russo, our solicitor in Brunswick. On Tuesday afternoon, I had visited the NAB, our bank of choice since 1968, and asked what would happen to our joint account if one of us should die. We were very relieved to discover that as we have an either/or signature clause on our account, it would not be automatically frozen or closed on the death of one of us. Our credit cards are in my name, but the debit cards are linked to our joint account, which means that if I died first, Wes could still use the debit card in lieu of cash until he got his own credit card.

At Circular Quay with Wes & Brendan Kierce in 1979

The Bushwalking Group was off to the Lodden River on Friday morning and staying for lunch afterwards at Caroline Bellair’s home, so I decided to take Bilbo for the long walk around Jubilee Lake & the old railway line. It was a lovely sunny crisp morning and, apart from a peacock and a fox, we didn’t see another living soul on our travels. Bilbo was thrilled to be able to swish through Autumn leaves and paddle through puddles and spent the rest of the day fast asleep as if in a coma! Wes had an early blood test, followed by a long community meeting about the proposed new Hepburn Shire complex using the area around the Daylesford Swimming Pool. As usual, Wes has many interesting and thoughtful suggestions to make and the CEO asked him to stay behind after the public meeting to talk them through. He arrived back in time for enjoy a lunch of curried cauliflower with cucumber raita and lime chutney. The fire hadn’t gone out from the night before so I kept it going all afternoon and evening and, while Wes prepared for his Ancestry class yesterday, Bilbo and I sat happily in front of it as I did the Friday crosswords and finished the 3^rd Camilla Läckberg book. We watched the very exciting and close North Melbourne & Essendon game that night.

Yesterday Wes walked Bilbo early and we watched the mist rise quickly to usher in a dry and sunny day. After scrambled eggs for breakfast, Wes went off to Ancestry and I walked Bilbo into town to collect some Scottish Glacier Mints from Jeannie at ‘Village on Vincent’, (a small shopping arcade next to ‘Gracenotes Café’), which is on the market and about to close down. It has been a useful way for a small business owner to see if there is a market for what he/she has to offer. We are constantly amazed at the number of businesses that just open up here and so often they are offering nothing new. An exception is the Creswick Woollen Mills, which started off about 3 years ago as a pop-up shop. It did so well that they quickly rented a small shopfront in Vincent Street, and now they have moved into the vacant hardware shop where Jenkin & Thomas used to be. They now have a spacious well-lit area with plenty of storage space and excellent change-rooms. And they will do well, because they know they have a market.

Wes, and all his Carlton friends, were once again very disappointed with the poor showing by the Blues against Greater Western Sydney. This is going to be a very long year for the Navy Blues. We also watched the exciting Sydney & Geelong match, which Sydney won well in the end. This morning we are off to breakfast after the Sunday Market, and then Wes and I are going to watch Collingwood & Richmond at the MCG. We have reserved seats in the MCC area. My sister, Paun, her husband, Brian, and their three sons, Liam, Warwick & Rohan, are all in Melbourne catching up on footy games, so we may find each other among the crowd this afternoon. They all visited Leanne yesterday, which was a lovely treat for all of them.

This is in 1983 after a trip to the Strand Hatters in Sydney – love this red hat!

Daylesford Mothers' Day Dispatch - Sunday 10th May 2015

Dear Friends, last Sunday was the most perfect day – after breakfast I spent two hours in the garden pulling out the tomato plants (I had given them fair warning), picking our cucumbers & green peppers and planting baby spinach in pots on the decking. We also have lots of little chillies and a tray of dill that is going very well indeed. Bilbo doesn’t seem interested in the figs at all, so I am able to pick them when they are nearly ripe and finish the process off inside in the light.

This beautiful photo was taken by Frank Page at Wombat Park Estate last Saturday during the Open Garden weekend.

We were spoilt for choice in Daylesford over the weekend with a Farmers Market, the Open Gardens, Spudfest in Trentham, Booktown in Clunes, a Women’s Walk around Lake Daylesford, the Sunday Market and a cooking exhibition at Lake House.

On Sunday night, we decided to watch ‘The Water Diviner’ with Russell Crowe. It started promisingly with a seeming understanding of the Turkish position at Gallipoli, but after a while, you just had to suspend belief and go with it. I had trouble with the perfect English spoken by many of the Turks, the use of the term ANZACs, the deployment by Russell Crowe of a cricket bat to single-handedly wipe out a Greek sortie and the impossibility of his character being able to pinpoint exactly where his sons had died, among other things. The acting was very uneven, some characters changed personality during the film and we detected more than a faint American twang a few times. Glad we didn’t pay to go and see it!

We both worked very hard on Monday, which was one of those perfect Autumn days – I put in one of my best days in quite a long time – gym, massage, planted cabbages, broccoli & curly leaf parsley, rearranged drawers, did the big Monday wash & even starched the tea-towels & pillow cases. Wes spent the morning in the garden after walking Bilbo and broke the back of the worst weeding (the bed is full of prickly roses and it is hard work). He also wrote his eulogy for Joan Testro, washed & vacuumed both cars and cooked whiting for lunch. We decided to watch another episode of ‘Wolf Hall’ over lunch and what a stunning production this is. I have just ordered the first two books, as the writing is superb, the acting sublime and the setting perfect. We are spellbound by this series, which is one of the best we have ever seen.

Our elder niece, Jessie, with her husband, Anthony, and children, Dante & Chiara

As is sometimes the case in Victoria, the rain sheeted down Tuesday morning, so all thoughts of a walk with Bilbo were scrapped and we had a sleep in, which was very enjoyable. Wes polished off his speech, while I read The Age and then I dropped him off at The Rex to prepare for showing the film, ‘Still Alice’ (about early onset Alzheimer’s Disease), which I also saw. We were both so pleased we did – great acting, excellent writing and amazingly, for an American film, it managed to let us fill in the gaps and finished at exactly the right time.

Immediately Wes had completed his tasks, we set off for the Studley Park Boathouse and Joan’s wake, which was well attended in spite of the cold and rain. Amanda did a wonderful job as MC and gave a brilliant speech about her mother; Lexie’s younger daughter, Marnie, had flown in from New York in time to attend and say a few words; Stacey spoke briefly; her daughter, Gretchen, told three wonderful stories about her grandmother, and finally, Wes delivered the eulogy. As is always the case when someone dies, not everyone knows everything about the person, and he filled in the gaps especially for those who only knew her later in life. It was a fine speech and I was very proud of him – Joan would have loved it. Amanda’s daughter, Eadie, had put together some photos and videos of Joan’s life and we felt she was in the room with us especially when she was singing. The afternoon ended with Amanda & Eadie doing an unaccompanied duet of one of Joan’s songs.

We were thrilled to see all three of Keith Testro’s sons there – Wayne, (the new grandfather), Glenn with his son, Tyson, who is loving their move to Trentham, and young Keith, who we very rarely see. All the other cousins were unable to be there, either because of prior appointments, or in the case of Ronda, (Bon’s daughter); she was too far away in Caloundra.

We drove home through better weather and as we arrived at Daylesford decided we had earned a breakout meal of fish & chips, which were very yummy indeed from our excellent local fish shop. Wes had hoped to spend the evening working at his computer, but we both found we were emotionally exhausted after the morning’s film, followed by the afternoon’s outpouring of grief and remembrances, so we opted to watch an episode of ‘Scott & Bailey’ and have an early night. Bilbo had been left a big bone to chew, but I had also forgotten to close the laundry door, so he had spent the 7 hours or so we were away with the run of the house. Fortunately, he had done nothing wrong at all – not even been tempted to recline on either of the couches!

Lovely & Malcolm at ANZAC Cove this week

On Wednesday, it was another cold morning, followed by fog, and although we all got up at 5.30am, we decided Bilbo could walk later in the day when it was warmer. I went off to gym, where I love my current programme, which aims to give me endurance as well as extra strength. It is the only gym I have ever attended where there is no pressure from other attendees or from the gym instructor to do anything other than improve your own fitness at your own rate.

Wayne from Barclays, Ballarat, arrived to see if he could fix the dishwasher (yet again) and discovered a small piece of glass, which he thought might have been the problem. I set off with Bilbo to get a fringe trim and arrived back to find Wayne gone and the dishwasher going through the ‘pots & pans’ cycle. Sadly, it didn’t finish the cycle, but showed the same error message we have been getting for ages, so Wes rang Wayne and arranged for him to come back after lunch, which he did and ended up taking the dishwasher away.

I spent most of the afternoon at Mitre 10 in Daylesford, where John Jenkin had ordered in two new LG phones with very big screens for Wes and me. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning about these new phones. I have never had a mobile phone that wasn’t Motorola, but Telstra are no longer offering plans with them, so we had to make the big jump. Samsung didn’t appeal as I have always found them difficult to negotiate when trying to help friends, and Wes absolutely hated the one HTC phone he had, which we bought because it was a big screen. So far, I think these new phones are pretty good and once we have finished personalising them, I think we will be OK. However if you should ring & we take a while to answer, you will know why!

The first photo on the new phone... Wes concentrating on his writing in our study at 78 Duke Street with a wintry vista

On Thursday, Wes walked Bilbo and the heavens opened just after they arrived home. I did the supermarket shopping once the rain had eased and everywhere was looking clean & fresh, except for the two cars that had been so lovingly washed to within an inch of their lives on Monday morning.

The night before Wes had answered the SOS call and agreed to be the projectionist for an extra showing of ‘That Sugar Film’, which attracted a small, but keen audience. I decided to turn the latest and possibly the last 2kg of tomatoes into pasta sauce, and we now have so much in the freezer I’ve been forbidden to buy anything other than necessities at the Sunday Market, something I find very hard to do. I have tried my best this morning, but can’t arrive home without apples, broccoli, celery, carrots & zucchini for Bilbo and mushrooms, leek, fennel & fruit for us.

We ended up with an open fire on Thursday afternoon and I spent time reading (Swedish writer Camilla Läckberg is my current obsession), doing crosswords and catching up on AFL 360° episodes. Wes produced a 15-page submission to Council asking for a long-term plan for Lake Daylesford and met the appropriate Council officer at the Boathouse Café to discuss it.

We all slept in on Friday until 6.30am, which worked out well as the Bushwalk that morning was the 25^th Anniversary re-enactment of the walk that the original 8 did from Neighbourhood Centre down to Lake Daylesford, on to Twin Bridges and finally to Tipperary Springs. We short walkers drove to the Lake, walked around the smaller section, met up with the rest of the group for photos down by the Central Springs, then drove to Twin Bridges and walked to Tipperary Springs where we all arrived together for another photo shoot and Robyne Laurence’s yummy celebratory fruit cake complete with boot!

After morning tea & photos, we walked back to Twin Bridges and I drove Malcolm & Shirley back to their cars, which were outside Neighbourhood Centre, and the rest of the group walked back there. Bilbo was thrilled to be given some of the cake as well as his usual apple and arrived home exhausted.

Wes’s phone still wasn’t connected to Telstra, so after a shower and change of clothes, I went back to Bi-Rite Electrical in the Mitre 10 store, to see if putting in a new SIM card would solve the problem. It did, and Wes and I spent some time getting him up to speed with the phone, which including ringing each other etc!

I had decided not to go to the footy as the train getting back to Ballan after the game would arrive at 12.30am, which gets me home to Daylesford by 1am. After the way Geelong made mincemeat of us in the first half, I am rather pleased with my choice. We did play better in the second half, but couldn’t kick straight and really didn’t deserve to win, although we got within 4 goals in the last quarter. All the Cats supporters were very happy indeed, as they hadn’t expected to be so dominant.

Yesterday Wes walked Bilbo in the early rain & fog, before making us prawn congee for breakfast. I went into Vincent Street to get a few things and back to Bi-Rite to donate our very old phones (keeping the two most recent just in case) and see if I could finally sign the paperwork. It still wasn’t available, but Keith promised to print it out for me to sign next time I visited.

 Bilbo resting on our bed – note the hidden head so we can’t see him!

                                                                    

                                                  

While Wes took the second class of his Ancestry course, I spent hours on the computer updating e-Wallet so I could transfer it to the phones, as well as photos and lists of our books. The new phones come with spare batteries, so I charged them as well before having a rest and read of the Age. The Coodabeen Champions entertained me from 10-12 as usual, always worth listening to even when your team has lost the night before.

We lit a fire at lunchtime and, although Wes made it back downstairs to work at the computer, I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying its heat, watching the very exciting win by the Saints over the more fancied Doggies, doing crosswords, knitting and eventually feeding Bilbo, who starts getting excited about dinner from 3pm onwards.

We woke to wind and rain this morning, so there was no walk for Bilbo. I’m about to take him to the Sunday Market, then we will head off to breakfast at ‘The Food Gallery’ before driving to Melbourne to spend some time with Leanne.

Mothers’ Day, 1977 – we took Perc, Viva, Dot & Ray (in two cars) to Castlemaine for lunch at the ‘Bullboar & Yabbie Restaurant’ – it was all the rage at that time and we enjoyed a lovely lunch together.

We hope that all you mothers enjoy your special day, whatever it brings. I’ve stumbled into the kitchen to discover that Bilbo has given me 4 splits of Prosecco, which are very welcome indeed.

               

One sure way to a dog’s heart – big bones!

Beautiful flowers from Wombat Hill Nursery